#'Longhorn'Dinosaur Fossil Discovered in Utah The fossilized remains of a newly identified dinosaur with horns so long they would put Triceratops to shame has been discovered in the Utah desert.
It's the Texas longhorn of the ceratopsids. See Images of the Longhorn of Dinos Ancient micro-continent Though the region is parched now during the Cretaceous period
when Nasutoceratops  lived Utah was full of dense leafy forests streams and swamps that made it resemble the Mississippi Delta of today.
It's also possible that similar horns adorned the heads of both sexes as is the case with modern water buffalo Loewen said.
#Longhorn Legacy: Surprising Origins of Columbus'Cattle Found The first cows brought to The americas by explorer Christopher Columbus originated from two extinct wild beasts from India and Europe a new genetic analysis shows.
Because the breeds analyzed including the longhorn have been connected closely to humans the results could shed light on human migration over the past 10000 years said study co-author Emily Jane Mctavish an evolutionary biology doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin
whose mascot is the longhorn cow. The findings were published today (March 25) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Wild beasts About 10000 years ago ancient people domesticated cows from wild aurochs (bovines that are 1. 5 to two times as big as domestic cattle) in two separate events one
in the Indian subcontinent and one in Europe. Paleolithic people probably captured young aurochs and selected for the most docile of the creatures.
The fierce and scary creatures gradually became tamer domesticated animals Mctavish said. Wild aurochs survived until 1627
when hunting and habitat loss drove the creatures to extinction. New world cows On Columbus'second trip to The americas in 1493 he brought cattle.
To untangle the history of these New world breeds Mctavish and her colleagues analyzed the genetic lineage of three cattle descended from the New world cows:
Texas longhorn Mexican Corriente and Romosinuano cattle from Colombia and compared them with 55 other cattle breeds. 5 Misconceptions of Christopher Columbus The researchers found that the New world cows evolved from both Indian and European lineages.
In addition historical records suggest that Longhorns underwent natural selection while they were living in semiwild herds for 450 years or about 80 to 200 generations.
The group hypothesizes that Indian cows made it to East Africa via trade routes and cows from North africa may have entered Spain
when the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula. Different origins The findings suggest that New world cows differ from breeds brought by The french and The british such as Angus and Hereford
which evolved only in Europe Mctavish said. All these European breeds have a different evolutionary history than the Spanish breeds brought by Columbus Mctavish said.
Because New world cows were adapted to frequent droughts and changing food supplies these traits could be useful to breeders developing hardier breeds of cattle especially in the face of climate change Mctavish said.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter@tiaghose. Â Followâ Livescience@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article onâ Livescience. com i
#Lost and Found: Ancient Shoes Turn up in Egypt Temple More than 2000 years ago at a time when Egypt was ruled by a dynasty of kings of Greek descent someone perhaps a group of people hid away some of the most valuable possessions they had their shoes.
which is likely bovine. Most surprising was isolated that the shoe had what shoemakers call a rand a device that until now was thought to have been used first in medieval Europe.
Female blue tits that construct bigger nests and decorate them with fragrant plants have male partners that are more willing to invest in raising chicks Spanish researchers report in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
and that the couple will have healthy chicks. Â But the research team found that males might also judge their mates. oeit was thought traditionally that only males need to show of their quality said Tomã¡
and in how many chicks will survive said Tomã¡s. Tomã¡s and his colleagues at Madrid's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales made some nests smaller and added grass
The incriminating images show Ryan William Waterman 21 and his two children petting a manatee calf at Taylor Creek in Fort Pierce last month according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife
In one shot Waterman is holding the calf partially out of the shallow water and in another image one of his young children is sitting on top of the animal as if riding it.
While the family's actions might look playful biologists said such contact could be deadly for a manatee calf.
Separating the two could have severe consequences for the calf FWC manatee biologist Thomas Reinert said in a statement.
World's Cutest Baby Wild Animals The calf also appeared to be experiencing manatee cold-stress syndrome a condition that can lead to death in extreme cases Reinert added.
Taking the calf out of the water may have worsened its situation. Waterman faces charges under the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act which makes it illegal to molest harass
Tutankhamun went to his final resting place accompanied by 48 cases of beef and poultry.
The oldest was a rack of cattle ribs from the tomb of Tjuiu an Egyptian noblewoman and her courtier Yuya.
and 948 B c. and consisted of meat from a calf found in the tomb of Isetemkheb D a sister and wife to a high priest in Thebes.
and the other was probably goat. The researchers conducted a chemical analysis of the bandages or the meat itself in all four samples.
They found that animal fat coated the bandages of the calf and goat mummies; in the case of the calf the fat was on bandages not in contact with the meat suggesting it had been smeared on as a preservative rather than seeping through as grease.
The most intriguing chemical profile appeared on the beef mummy however. The bandaging around the mummy contained remnants of an elaborate balm made of fat or oil and resin from a Pistacia tree a shrubby desert plant.
and replaced with domesticated turkey. They lived in simple pit houses with a hearth fire hole and room for storage.
Logging and farming also contribute to the continued destruction of the Amazon with one expert attributing up to 90 percent of all cleared land in the region to the expansion of Brazil's cattle ranching industry.
Common people in ancient Rome ate millet a grain looked down upon by the wealthy as fit only for livestock according to a new study published in the March issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
The mountain's largest feature is the Valle del Bove (Valley of the Ox) a large horseshoe-shaped caldera on the eastern slope.
The elk were found Aug 27 on a 75000-acre ranch north of the city of Las vegas. Livestock deaths by themselves are not unusual there are many things that can fell large animals including predators poachers
Odd livestock attacks also abound. Last December an unknown animal attacked livestock in Shelby County Ky. leaving many of the victims with gnawed
or detached ears including a goat named Polka-dot. In 2010 the Hispanic vampire beast el chupacabra (of course never proven to exist) was blamed by some for the deaths of more than 300 goats in rural Mexico.
The real cause: Officials found feral canines were the real culprits. Whatever killed the New mexico elk was apparently neither a chemical spill nor a flesh-eating fungus though the deaths remain a genuine mystery at least so far.
Tissue and blood samples are still being analyzed and scientists hope to have answers soon. Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine
Although health officials still haven't confirmed the species of animal that is the source of the H7n9 bird flu outbreak in China most people who fell ill had contact with birds or pigs according to a new report.
Most (76 percent) had contact with chickens (including four who were poultry workers) while 20 percent reported exposure to ducks and 7 percent to swine the report said.
The researchers said they suspect the source of H7n9 infections to be poultry. This agrees with the result of a study published today
which points to poultry markets as the likely source of H7n9 bird flu infections. Other findings from the investigation of the 82 cases include:
More investigation is needed not only to identify patients who may be sick with the virus but also to determine risk factors for becoming ill (some people may not get sick) the researchers said.
A ban on the sale of poultry in market stalls disinfection of markets or market closures may need to be considered to prevent the spread of the virus from animals to people the researchers said.
Aninvestigation of 82 people infected with the new bird flu virus shows most who fell ill had contact with birds or pigs.
but fish poultry milk and other dairy products are also good food sources of it. Carnitine is also a popular over-the-counter diet supplement often billed as helping to boost energy and bulk up muscle.
which was occupied continuously for 3000 years had evidence of burning thousands of flint tool fragments and bones ofâ wild aurochs a type of extinct giant cow.
but fashioned in the style of another region (for instance aâ stone toolâ made from Welsh
However what makes the Amesbury discovery special is the large trove of auroch bones found in the area which suggests the spring was on a natural migration route for the wild aurochs he said.
</p><p>Turns out<a href=http://www. livescience. com/13953-pigs-evolved-mud-wallowing. html>pigs aren't just putting on a show</a
While mud baths keep pigs cool a review of research reported in 2011 found wallowing may also be a swine sign of well-being.
While the review found the strongest reason noted in the past studies for wallowing was to keep cool the pigs kept it up through winter months.</
Peahens Ignore Most of Peacocks'Flashy Displays A male hoping to attract a female's attention typically needs something to help him stand out from the crowd
and theatrical courtship displays peahens almost always gazed at the lower part of the peacock's train of feathers particularly below the neck.
Others thought peahens were drawn likely to the distinctive eyespots on a peacock's display of feathers.
Backpack-toting peahens Yorzinski designed an experiment to measure where the peahens look when males put on a display.
One camera filmed the view from the perspective of the peahen and another camera tracked the movement of the peahen's pupils.
Yorzinski combined the data and used the movement of the bird's pupils to determine where the peahen was looking.
For the experiment to work Yorzinski gradually trained captive peahens to wear tiny backpacks holding the equipment and a helmet with two cameras attached.
I had my doubts along the way she said. It took a couple of months to get the females very comfortable with wearing the equipment.
To test the accuracy of the eye-tracking technology Yorzinski threw food into the enclosure to monitor the peahens'gaze.
Yorzinski also observed the peahens'pupils when a predator was introduced into their environment in this case how the birds'eyes followed a taxidermic raccoon as it rolled past the enclosure on a skateboard.
Peahen gaze Yorzinski is unsure why peahens focus primarily on the lower part of a peacock's train.
and observing how they impact peahens'mating decisions. She is also using the same eye-tracking technology on males to see how they check out the competition
#Oldest Known Wild Bird Hatches Healthy Chick The oldest known wild bird in the United states has hatched a chick for the sixth year in a row.
The Laysan albatross named Wisdom thought to be at least 62 years old hatched a healthy-looking chick on Sunday (Feb 3) according to a statement from the U s. Department of the interior.
Wisdom and her young chick inhabit Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) which is famous for itsâ Laysan albatrossâ population.
The bird has hatched likely 30 to 35 chicks in her long life although that number might be said higher Peterjohn in the release.
The tsunami killed an estimated 2000 adult albatrosses and about 110000 chicks in the wildlife refuge.
Cattle bones and other signs of meat consumption have been found in the palace Yasur-Landau said.
#One Source of Bird flu Virus Found Poultry markets in Shanghai are one likely place where people are contracting the new bird flu virus a new study from China suggests.
In the study researchers collected 970 samples from poultry markets and farms in Shanghai and the Anhui Province in eastern China.
Twenty samples tested positive for the H7n9 virus all from poultry markets in Shanghai. Ten of the positive samples were from chickens three from pigeons and seven from the surrounding environment.
The H7n9 viruses in the samples were very genetically similar to the viruses that have sickened people in China suggesting that poultry markets are a source of infections the researchers said.
which is that people can contract bird flu at poultry markets said Dr. Richard Webby a bird flu expert
Previously reports of infection with the H5n1 strain of bird flu were linked to poultry markets Webby said.
However the new study does not suggest that the new H7n9 bird flu virus originated in Shanghai poultry markets
In fact it has been reported that as many as 40 percent of people infected with H7n9 did not have a history of contact with poultry.
Poultry markets may provide a sort of breeding ground for such reassortment to happen. It provides a rather unnatural environment where a lot of these different bird species that may have different flu viruses get together
Yanzhong Huang director of the Center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange N. J. said that it's still not certain that the new virus originated in poultry.
A poultry market Shanghai may be one source of H7n9 bird flu infections. This story was provided by Myhealthnewsdaily a sister site to Livescience.
Their babies called calves are born 6 feet (1. 8 meters) tall and can grow up to an inch a day.
and raise livestock (check out Navin Ramankutty's animation of global cropland for a wow visualization).
Future frontiers of agricultural expansion will most likely be in the tropics as people clear high-biodiversity tropical forests to raise cattle grow soy
As troubling as this storm was for people the blizzard was devastating for the region's cattle.
And help unfortunately is not on its way to South dakota's $7-billion cattle industry due to the shutdown at federal agencies a shutdown that some claim the state's congressional representatives helped to create.
The 19 Weirdest Effects of the Government Shutdown As the snow melted the losses mounted for the state's ranchers who now face the grisly task of documenting the number of dead rotting cattle carcasses littering their land.
and loss Joan Wink of Wink Cattle Company told Modern Farmer. I'm not going to take photos.
No assistance available Many of the cattle died of hypothermia winds in the blizzard reached 70 mph (113 km h)
and cattle did not yet have the protection of thick winter coats of hair. Normally the state's cattle ranchers would apply for assistance from the Farm Service agency a division of the U s. Department of agriculture.
But with that office shuttered by the federal government shutdown now in its third week that agency is closed.
The father a 60-year-old living in the Jiangsu province of eastern China fell ill about five to six days after he visited a live poultry market in March according to a new report
The man's 32-year-old daughter who became ill about two weeks later did not visit poultry markets
The most likely explanation for these cases is that the father became infected with H7n9 from a poultry market
(or the poultry he purchased there) and then he passed the virus directly to his daughter according to the researchers at thejiangsu Province Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
so it can spread undetected within poultry populations Rudge and Coke said. The report provides a timely reminder of the need to remain extremely vigilant Rudge
#Pig-Like Beast Leads the Way to Ancient Cave Drawings White-lipped peccaries may not be glamorous-looking
On the trail of the pig-like creatures in Brazil researchers made an unexpected and rare discovery:
while surveying white-lipped peccaries in Brazil's Cerrado plateau a vast savanna region in 2009. The animals which travel long distances are considered environmental indicators of healthy forests.
while tracking the peccaries near the remote city of Corguinho in the Brazilian state of Mato grosso do Sul.
In addition to human figures and geometric shapes many different kinds of animals were represented from big cats and armadillos to birds and reptiles but alas no peccaries.
The white-lipped peccary whose scientific name is Tayassu pecari is listed as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Natureâ (IUCN) the world's mainâ authorityâ for the conservation status of wildlife.
Although many vertebrates became extinct during this period mammals that are familiar to us today including apes cattle deer rabbits kangaroos wallabies bears
Eating the placenta known as placentophagy is common amongst some mammals such as goats which eat the afterbirth for its nutritional boost.
Elsewhere in the clearing known as the Dzanga Bai I was awed by bongo buffalo sitatunga and hundreds of birds.
and slaughtered at least 26 elephants four of them calves collecting as much ivory as possible before disappearing to most likely begin preparing their next attack.
Scientists studied male and female red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) which both display complicated black-and-white patterns of plumage on their chests.
and apparently the plumage of red-legged partridges. 5 Seriously Mind-boggling Math Facts In a new study scientists found that the healthier a bird is the more fractal-like its plumage becomes.
the black-spotted bib of the red-legged partridge the researchers wrote in a paper published Jan 23 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Our correlative results indicate that both better condition
which could provide a valuable way for red-legged partridges to judge potential mates. Our work justifies further studies on fractal perception in animals depending on their visual processing abilities the researchers wrote.
Endangered Chicks Emerge from Nest This could be the first and last high-definition video of a Spoon-billed sandpiper chick emerging from its nest.
-and-white chicks stumble out of the nest pecking for food. They feed themselves from day one Vyn said in the video.
Watch the chick hatching. Vyn camped out a tent and a blind with only a sleeping bag for warmth waiting for the eggs to hatch.
and the chicks released in Russia to make their 4971-mile (8000 kilometer) migration to Southeast asia.
For example some may have become sick through their contact with cattle. From 1998 through 2011 a total of 148 outbreaks associated with the consumption of raw milk products were documented in the United states resulting in 2384 illnesses 284 hospitalizations and two deaths according to the CDC.
The death seemed very sinister and mysterious leading Dartmoor's livestock-protection officer to speculate that witches
and the livestock-protection officer recognize the signs of ordinary predation? After all presumably dead animals are not uncommon on farms and ranches;
surely a livestock official would be able to tell the difference between an animal that died of natural causes
and livestock officials have no idea what occurs in a real animal ritual sacrifice so they can hardly make a valid comparison.
which has very specific procedures and rituals for the sacrifice (and typically sacrifice chickens or goats not horses).
In fact the butchered remains of a goat and two roosters found in Miami's South Beach this year were thought by some to be a Santerã a ritual sacrifice.
Of course with something as mysterious and clandestine as suspected satanists anything could be assumed to be the result of their sinister actions.
and Extension Center in San Angelo Texas is co-author of Procedures for Evaluating Predation on Livestock and Wildlife (Agrilife Extension Texas A & M System 2010).
and even livestock experts may not recognize what killed an animal since it is often difficult
The misidentification of normal animal predation is a common element in mysterious animal deaths such as cattle mutilations
and even suspected attacks by chupacabra a legendary bloodsucking creature often blamed for weird livestock deaths.
In 1945 a man named Bill Billy goat Sianis was ejected from a a href=http://www. livescience. com/28844-chicago-cubs-billy-goat-curse. html>Chicago cubs</a>game
because he brought with him a pet goat. Outraged Sianis reportedly cursed the club with the words The Cubs ain't gonna win no more!
despite many attempts over the years to lift the curse (some of them involving goats).
This April police in Cook County Ill. found a decapitated goat tied to a tree near a golf course.
inside was a decaying goat's head d
#Reality Check: 5 Risks of Raw Vegan Diet On the road to good health there are many forks. Some paths such as vegetarianism or the Mediterranean diet have considerable science supporting them.
The same would be true for cows or for any vegan animals that accumulate toxins in their fat;
. Her research indicated that participants who ate a diet of vegetables berries fruit whole-grains fish poultry
Biologists briefly brought the extinct Pyrenean ibex back to life in 2003 by creating a clone from a frozen tissue sample harvested before the goat's entire population vanished in 2000.
A resurrected Pyrenean ibex will need a safe home Pimm wrote. Those of us who attempt to reintroduce zoo-bred species that have gone extinct in the wild have one question at the top of our list:
Hunters ate this wild goat to extinction. Reintroduce a resurrected ibex to the area where it belongs
and it will become the most expensive cabrito ever eaten. Pimm also worries that de-extinction could create a false impression that science can save endangered species turning the focus away from conservation.
This story has been updated to correct the year the Pyrenean ibex clone was created. Email Megan Gannon or follow her@meganigannon. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
but older ones grew a dry hard rind in the sun like a cow patty.
#San diego Zoo Welcomes Season's 1st Condor Chick The San diego Zoo welcomed its first California condor chick of the hatching season on Feb 24 the zoo announced yesterday (March 11) as part of their breeding program
It covers our hands so the chick does not get any beneficial experiences from people.
Webb has also been monitoring the other condor eggs set to hatch this season to estimate how long before each chick pips
and allows him to see how the chick is developing. In a photo released by the zoo Webb is examining an egg on March 11 that he estimates will hatch in 21 days.
Since then the zoo has hatched 173 chicks and released 80 birds into the wild. There are now an estimated 400 wild birds.
s ice-free land to grow crops and livestock for food.</</p><p>The technique of simmering food to cook it didn'
#Scientists Make Piglets Glow Under a Black Light Scientists say they've created ten genetically engineered piglets this year that glow green under a black light.
The pigs'embryos were injected with a molecule from bioluminescent jellyfish that carries instructions to make green fluorescent protein or GFP.
Study researcher Stefan Moisyadi a bioscientist from the University of Hawaii at Manoa explained in a statement that the GFP in the piglets is marker to show that we can take a gene that was not originally present in the animal
Video footage of two of the piglets in the dark show that the gene is definitely present.
The U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) which oversees meat poultry and some egg products also says date labels are voluntary.
These animals include more than 1 million wildebeest and zebra which make up one of the most amazing animal migrations on the planet.
In places where they've been installed he added sheep herders have come to rely on fences to protect their flock meaning they can help both people
Peacocks and turkeys use their tail feathers for courtship displays. Past research has suggested that dinosaurs may have evolved first feathers for show not flight.
and turkeys don't try to use them to run at all but just keep them tucked in except
Good sources of protein include meat poultry fish legumes (such as dry beans and peas) eggs milk and tofu according to the CDC.
Bison Shrink as Planet Warms Bison roaming the U s. prairie may grow smaller as a result of climate change a new study suggests.
Interested in how regional climate affects bison size biologist Joseph Craine of Kansas State university collected body mass data for more than 250000 bison across the country.
The average South dakota adult male bison for example weighed roughly 1900 pounds (860 kilograms) whereas the average Oklahoma adult bison subject to hotter conditions weighed closer to 1300 pounds (590 kg) Craine reported last week in the journal PLOS ONE.
The difference in temperature between those two states is around 20 degrees Fahrenheit 11 degrees Celsius
But it is a clear indicator that long-term warming will affect bison and is something that will happen across the U s. over the next 50-75 years.
Protein deficiency slows bison growth early in life resulting in smaller adults. Other grazers like cattle will likely face similar changes in a warming climate Craine said.
Though more work is needed to predict the extent of warming on the prairie Craine suggests that the cattle industry could face losses of more than $1 billion within the next 75 years as a result of degrading grass quality.
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